Device for removably retaining miscellaneous articles in a pocket



Aug. 4, 1964 B RQBERTS 3,142,876

DEVICE FOR REMOVABLY RETAINING MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES IN A POCKET Filed June 21, 1960 5 INVENTOR.

BRUCE ROBERTS ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,142,87 6 DEVICE FOR REMOVABLY RETAINENG MISCEL- LANEOUS ARTICLES EN A PGCKET Bruce Roberts, ieveiand, ()hio, assignor to Alfred C. Body, Cleveiand, Ohio Filed Suzie 21, 196i Ser. No. 37,896 8 Qlairns. (Cl. 24-3) This invention pertains to a device for removably retaining miscellaneous articles in a pocket.

The invention is particularly adapted to removably retaining miscellaneous articles in a sh rt pocket and will be described with particular reference thereto, although it will be appreciated that the invention has broader applications and may be applied to pants pockets, overall pockets or even to pockets other than those of wearing apparel.

Men, particularly since the demise of the vest, have become accustomed to carrying in their shirt breast pockets various articles which they require in their everyday business. Such articles may include, for example, rulers, pencils, eye glasses, notebooks and the like. A shirt pocket is ordinarily relatively loose, and one of the major problems with this practice has been the accidental displacement of these articles. For example, it is particularly annoying when one leans over to pick something up off the floor to have the entire contents of the shirt pocket spill out over the fioor. After this has happened a number of times, the person gets into the habit of automatically pressing his hand against the shirt pocket whenever he leans over, a practice which the present invention does away with.

While some articles such as pencils or combs are provided with clips, these clips tend to fray the upper edge of the shirt pocket or to become broken or bent so that they are of no value. Of course, such clips are completely ineffective if not placed over the edge of the shirt pocket when the pencil is inserted therein.

It has been the practice to provide a button and sometimes a flap on the upper edge of the pocket, but such devices are expensive as far as the shirt manufacturer is concerned, and also limit the length of the article which can be readily carried in the pocket. Furthermore, they require unbuttoning of the pocket each time the person desires to remove something therefrom.

Other devices have been proposed to alleviate some of these problems, but they have heretofore been bulky, rigid and uncomfortable to wear.

The present invention contemplates a device which overcomes all of the above-referred to difficulties and firmly but removably retains miscellaneous articles in a pocket while being simple in construction and cheap to manufacture.

In accordance with the present invention, a device is provided for insertion into and coaction with a shirt pocket which includes first means engageable with the upper corners of the pocket for resiliently biasing the corners apart and placing the upper edges of the pocket under tension, and second means adjacent the upper edges of the pocket which are resiliently biased toward the back of the pocket; that is, toward the body of the wearer.

Such second means may have a substantial width somewhat less than that of the pocket width and may be provided with anti-friction coverage or the like, or may have means for fastening at one or more points to the upper front edge of the pocket for urging such edge toward the back of the pocket, or both.

The principal object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved device adapted to be inserted into a pocket for removably retaining miscellaneous articles in such pocket, which device is simple in construction,

3,142,876 Patented Aug. 4, 1964 ice cheap to manufacture and which effectively retains articles in the pocket.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved device of the type described which has a minimum of bulk, a minimum of weight and which is comfortable to the user when carried in a pocket.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved device of the general character described which includes means for placing the upper edge of the pocket under tension and other means resiliently biased toward the back of the pocket adjacent the upper edge for frictionally engaging articles in the pocket and preventing their accidental displacement therefrom.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved device of the general character described which enables articles to be readily inserted into the pocket and readily removed, while preventing accidental displacement therefrom.

Still another object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved means for biasing the upper front edge of a pocket toward the back of the pocket for closing the upper edge of the pocket and making the accidental displacement of articles from the pocket difficult.

Another object of the invention is the provision of a new and improved device of the type described which includes means adjacent the upper edge of the pocket and biased toward the back of the pocket for frictionally engaging articles inserted in such pocket.

The invention may take physical form in certain parts and arrangement of parts, the preferred embodiment of which will be described in detail in this specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawings which form a part hereof and wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a front or elevational view of a device for removably retaining miscellaneous articles in a pocket illustrating a preferred embodiment of the invention;

FIGURE 2 is a side view of the device shown in FIG- URE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view of a fiat stamping from which a clip may be formed to hold portions of the flexible wire members of the invention in place and give added strength 'to those members where needed;

showing in dotted lines the free or unstressed position of the portion of the invention adapted to frictionally hold articles in the pocket;

FIGURE 6 is a fragmentary front view of an alternative embodiment of the invention including portions for engaging the upper edge of the shirt pocket and biasing it toward the body of the wearer; and

FIGURE 7 is a fragmentary cross-sectional view of the embodiment of the invention shown in FIGURE 6 and taken along line 77 of FIGURE 6.

Referring now to the drawings where the showings are for the purposes of illustrating the preferred embodiments of the invention only, and not for the purposes of limiting the same, FIGURES 4 and 5 show a fragmentary portion of a shirt 10 having a conventional pocket indicated generally at 11 stitched thereto, the pocket including upper corners 12, side edges 13, a generally V-shaped bottom or base 14 and an upper front edge 15, which front edge 15 in conjunction with the portion of the shirt 10 immediately adjacent thereto forms the back edge 15 of the pocket thus formed in the short.

Gbviously the exact construction of the shirt pocket forms no part of the present invention other than to say that the materials must be of the usual flexible fabric and have an opening defined by the upper edges 15, 16 into which articles to be carried in the pocket may be readily inserted. The pocket formed may thus have any desired width and depth and any desired shape, the device of the present invention being usually dimensioned so as to fit the particular pocket. However, most shirt pockets are of a generally standard width of 4% inches and a standard depth of approximately 5 inches, and within normal variations from these dimensions, one device constructed in accordance with the present invention may be made to fit all such shirt pockets.

In accordance with the present invention, the device shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 includes first means engageagle with the upper corners 12 of the pocket for resiliently biasing the corners apart and placing the upper edges 15, 16 of the pocket under tension. Such means may take a number of difierent forms, e.g., a plastic frame but in the embodiment shown, such means comprises a continuous Wire member 18 having a base portion 19 and a pair of upwardly diverging arms 20 of lengths such that when the base 19 engages the bottom of the pocket, the upper ends of the arms will engage the corners 12 of the pocket slightly below the upper edges 15, 16. The unbiased or free spacing of the ends of the arms 29, taken into consideration with the flexibility of the wire from which the arms 20 and base 19 are formed, is such as to urge the corners 12 apart with a moderate pressure and thus place the upper edges 15,

16 of the pocket under a slight tension.

To prevent the upper ends of the arms 20 from piercing the shirt material where they engage the corners 12, the ends of the wire are reversely bent upon themselves as at 21 and a bead or globule 22 of rubber, plastic or the like is formed on the end around the portion 21. If the bead or globule is formed of rubber, it will be appreciated that the frictional force tending to retain the device in the pocket will be substantially increased.

Further, in accordance with the invention, the device includes a second means biased toward the body of the wearer or the back of the pocket. Such means may take a number of different forms but in the embodiment shown, includes an inverted triangularly shaped portion of the wire member 18 having a horizontally extending part 23 provided at its opposite ends with a pair of downwardly converging legs 24. As shown, the lower ends of the legs 24 abut and extend parallel to each other as at 25 for a short distance and are integrally connected to the right and left arms 20, respectively at base 19. A metal clip 26, shown expanded or flattened in form in FIGURE 3, holds the parallel portions of legs 24 in abutting relationship and gives structural strength to the device at base 19 where bending will occur, as will hereinafter become apparent.

Referring to FIGURE 3, the clip 26 comprises a flat, inverted T-shaped member having a central portion 27 adapted to be bent around and partially encircle the parallel portions of legs 24, together with a pair of arms 28 each of which is adapted to be bent around and partially encircle the lower portion of an associated one of the arms 20 at the base 19. If desired, the clip 26 may be soldered to the wire member 18 after it is formed around the legs 24 and arms 29 to give added strength.

As shown in FIGURE 2, the triangular portion of the wire member 18 comprising part 23 and converging legs 24 is bent immediately above the clip 26 in such a manner that the triangular portion will diverge slightly away from the plane of the arms 20 The plane of divergence of the triangular portion, when the device is inserted into a shirt pocket, is towards the back of the pocket as illustrated in FIGURE 5 where the unbiased or extended portion of the triangular portion is shown in dotted lines. That is, the triangular portion is biased toward the body of the wearer. As will be understood,

the clip 26 serves to maintain the arms 20 and the triangular portion in their respective planes.

In the embodiment shown, a generally triangularly shaped flat member is formed when the triangular portion is covered on both sides by a layer of sponge rubber 29 or the like reversely bent upon itself over the part 23 as at 39 and extending over the legs 24, the sponge rubber layers being held in position on the triangular frame formed by legs 24 and part 23 by any suitable means, but in the preferred embodiment by appropriately gluing the adjacent surfaces of layer 29 to each other after it is folded over the triangular frame.

The device shown in FIGURES 1 and 2 is readily inserted into a shirt pocket as in FIGURES 4 and 5. The upper ends of the legs 2%) are flexed towards each other and the device oriented so that the plane of the triangular portion diverges away from the plane of the arms 29 and toward the back of the pocket. The device is then simply stuffed into the shirt pocket and pushed downwardly until the base 1% rests on the base 14 of the pocket. The upper ends of the arms spring outwardly and place the upper edges 15, 16 of the pocket under a slight tension while the upper edge 30 of the triangular portion bears against the back upper edge 16 of the pocket with a slight pressure. Thereafter, articles suchas a pencil may be readily inserted into the shirt pocket between the upper edge 15 and the upper edge 30 of the triangular portion. Once inserted therein, the sponge rubber surface of the material bears against and frictionally engages the pencil or other article and prevents its accidental removal. Should the wearer decide to use the pencil or other device, however, it may be readily removed without difllculty. If desired, materials other than sponge rubber may be used to cover the triangular portion comprised of legs 24 and part 23, the only requirement being that the material is such as to frictionally engage an article positioned within the pocket.

The embodiment of the invention shown in FIGURES 6 and 7 is similar to that described above with the eX- ception of a pair of clips 31 and 32 which are secured to the part 23 of the wire member 18 and extend downwardly over the front surface of the forward layer of sponge rubber 29. In this manner, the upper edge 15 of the shirt pocket will be engaged by the clips 31 and 32 and will bias it toward the body of the wearer to hold the pocket 11, the triangular portion, and any articles deposited within the pocket in closely assembly relationship.

The invention thus described is extremely simple in construction and has proven to be extremely effective in practice. Users have been able to place conventional eye glasses in their upper shirt pocket and then proceed to stand upon their head without the eye glasses coming out and falling upon the floor.

Although the invention has been shown in connection with certain specific embodiments, it will be readily apparent to those skilled in the art that various changes in form and arrangement of parts may be made to suit requirements without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention.

I claim as my invention:

1. For use with a pocket having a lower seam and side seams, a device for removably retaining articles in said pocket comprising a base member, a pair of flexible arms adapted to extend outwardly from the base member in a common plane in such a manner that the distance between the cxtremities of the arms is normally greater than the width of the pocket whereby the arms will be biased by articles may be removably secured between said back of the pocket and the flat member.

2. The combination claimed in claim 1 and including at least one clip secured to the edge of the flat member adjacent said upper edges, whereby the clip may be fitted over the upper front edge of the pocket to hold said upper front edge in abutment with the flat member.

3. A device as claimed in claim 1 including rubber-like material secured to the sides of said flat member whereby articles may be removably secured between the rubberlike material on the flat member and the back of the pocket.

4. A device as claimed in claim 1 wherein said flat member projects beyond said flexible arms.

5. A device for removably retaining articles in a pocket comprising a continuous flexible Wire having its median portion bent into a triangularly shaped flat member provided with a pair of legs on either side or" the center of the wire which converge toward an apex of the triangularly shaped member, the ends of the legs immediately beyond the apex being parallel and abutting each other, the remaining end portions of the flexible wire being bent to provide a pair of arms which diverge outwardly from the apex in a common plane, said plane being disposed at an angle with respect to the plane of the triangularly shaped flat member and intersecting the plane of the flat member along a line which lies in close proximity to said apex, and rubber-like sheet material secured to the opposite sides of the triangularly shaped flat member, the arrangement being such that when the device is inserted into a pocket the ends of the arms will be biased inwardly by the side seams of the pocket while the flat member will be biased to abut the back of the pocket,

6. The combination claimed in claim 5 wherein the ends of the said arms are reversely ben't upon themselves and covered with rubber-like material to prevent said arms from piercing the pocket.

7. A device for removably retaining articles in a pocket comprising a continuous flexible wire having its median portion bent into a triangularly shaped flat member provided with a pair of legs on either side of the center of the wire member which converge toward an apex of the triangularly shaped member, the ends of the legs immediately beyond the apex being parallel and abutting each other, the remaining end portions of the flexible wires being bent to provide a pair of arms which diverge outwardly from the apex in a common plane, said plane being disposed at an angle with respect to the plane of the triangularly shaped flat member and intersecting the plane of the flat member along a line which lies in close proximity to said apex, a generally T-shaped clip having a central portion secured to the parallel ends of said legs to hold the same in abutting relationship and two outwardly extending portions connected to said arms to give the device rigidity at the point Where said planes intersect, and rubber-like sheet material secured to the opposite sides of the triangularly shaped fla't member, the arrangement being such that when the device is inserted into a pocket, the ends of the arms will be biased inwardly by the side seams of the pocket while the flat member will be biased to abut the back of the pocket.

8. A device for removably retaining articles in a pocket comprising a continuous flexible Wire having its median portion bent into a triangularly shaped flat member provided with a pair of legs on either side of the center of I the wire which converge toward an apex of the member,

the remaining end portions of the flexible wire members being bent to provide a pair of arms which diverge outwardly from the apex, said arms being biased outwardly from the plane of said triangularly shaped member, and friction material secured to the opposite sides of the triangularly shaped flat member, the arrangement being such that when the device is inserted into a pocket the ends of the arms will be biased inwardly by the side seams of the pocket while the flat member will be biased to abut the back of the pocket.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 457,340 Brewer Aug. 11, 1891 607,766 Riley July 19, 1898 844,965 Slackowski Feb. 19, 1907 978,106 Bergenstrohle Dec. 6, 1910 1,334,394 Paulson et al Mar. 23, 1920 1,385,443 Gross July 26, 1921 1,466,330 Cindel Aug. 28, 1923 1,550,207 Clemons Aug. 18, 1925 1,719,244 Shirk July 2, 1929 2,088,287 Buxton July 27, 1937 2,211,023 Murphy Aug. 13, 1940 2,731,640 Garson Jan. 24, 1956 2,795,023 Howell June 11, 1957 2,890,507 Rainwater June 16, 1959 2,964,811 Loehnert Dec. 20, 1960 FOREIGN PATENTS 1,114,615 France Dec. 19, 1955 1,210,510 France Sept. 28, 1959 

1. FOR USE WITH A POCKET HAVING A LOWER SEAM AND SIDE SEAMS, A DEVICE FOR REMOVABLY RETAINING ARTICLES IN SAID POCKET COMPRISING A BASE MEMBER, A PAIR OF FLEXIBLE ARMS ADAPTED TO EXTEND OUTWARDLY FROM THE BASE MEMBER IN A COMMON PLANE IN SUCH A MANNER THAT THE DISTANCE BETWEEN THE EXTREMITIES OF THE ARMS IS NORMALLY GREATER THAN THE WIDTH OF THE POCKET WHEREBY THE ARMS WILL BE BIASED INWARDLY BY THE SIDE SEAMS WHEN INSERTED INTO THE POCKET WITH THE BASE MEMBER ADJACENT THE LOWER SEAM SO AS TO PLACE THE UPPER PORTION OF THE POCKET IN TENSION, A GENERALLY FLAT MEMBER CONNECTED TO THE BASE MEMBER WITH THE FLAT MEMBER BEING FLEXIBLY BIASED TO LIE IN A PLANE WHICH DIVERGES FROM THE PLANE OF THE ARMS UPWARDLY FROM THE LOWER SEAM AND TOWARD THE BACK OF THE POCKET, WHEREBY ARTICLES MAY BE REMOVABLY SECURED BETWEEN SAID BACK OF THE POCKET AND THE FLAT MEMBER. 